it's about time these walls broke down
by kurusui
Summary: he watched the fireworks in front of her thinking finally, finally, finally. —nami/strawhats, zoro/nami


A/N: Writing takes so much energy. How do you guys manage multi-chapter stories? :V This killed me and I probably spent less than 2 weeks actually writing it.

Tentatively set Post-Skypeia, reason being that I started this plotline during that arc (around February) and I don't want to add more characters. But I don't think it has any spoilers past the 7 crew member mark. I like to imagine Nami has longer hair in this fic, though.

This fic is based off of two fanarts, so some scenarios might sound familiar and I would link them but I'm not sure of the source for them, sorry. I also drew parallels to scenes that already happened in canon. The idea is kind of cliché I guess, but I thought it was really cute, hehe.

_WARNING:_ it's Nami centric, so there's lots of Nami/Straw Hats, but don't worry, I wrote it with a zona heart :b It's like, too romantic for non-zona shippers at the beginning but not romantic enough for zona shippers, haha. The second half is much heavier on the z/n

Also, I apologize if the tenses are a bit off. My default is present tense, but I'm trying to write in past tense so sometimes the wording might be a bit awkward. And um, I've proofread this at least 4 times and each time I catch more mistakes. If there's any glaring errors feel free to let me know ^^

* * *

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_—(please don't insinuate such things)—_

.

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"Oi, Zoro! Leave your katanas on the ship!" Nami called. Said swordsman scowled and tried to walk past her, ready to leave the ship. "Zoro!" she yelled louder, lunging for his sleeve but missing it by inches. She sighed in frustration, adjusting her yukata. "Robin, can you tell him not to take those with him? We're going to a _festival_," she said with aggravated emphasis.

Robin smiled sympathetically. "There are some things that you can't control, Navigator-san, as much as you may want to." Nami just looked at her for a moment and hung her head, wondering if that idiot could be sensible for a single day.

Nami's hair was tied in a loose bun to keep it from sticking to her neck, due to how warm it was. The newspapers told them that the summer island they were on was well known for their festivals and after so many stops involving fighting they were all interested in a little break.

"Anyone want to borrow some money?" Nami asked, holding out a handful of bills with a sneaky grin.

"Anyone with sense would say no," grumbled Zoro, tone making it incredibly obvious how used he was to the situation.

"Oh, go to hell."

The Straw Hats all got off the ship and walked down a path cutting through the forest, excluding their captain, who shot off yelling "Foooooood!" The air was crisp and cool, perfect for a night out at a festival. They could see the lights before hearing the sounds, but as they got closer, everyone gradually walked faster in excitement.

"I really want cotton candy!" Chopper said with shining eyes.

"Sure, I'm sure we can find some cotton candy somewhere," Robin replied with a smile.

"Man, this path is really long..."

"Yes, after all, the walking distance from the dock to the town is supposed to be about 3 miles."

"WHAT?!"

Robin laughed softly and to the relief of the rest of the crew suggested, "Perhaps we might stay on the island tonight so we don't have to walk more than necessary? In case you're too tired after the events to walk back?"

Even with the conversation it was starting to get a little too quiet in Nami's opinion and she tried to figure out what was missing. "Hey," Usopp said while pointing to a fading dust trail, "Luffy's almost out of sight, shouldn't we be worried?"

"Right," Nami muttered, rolling her eyes. "Yeah, I guess so. Can someone please go watch after Luffy?" There's that one guy she'd really like a break from, so maybe...

"I'll go," a voice said from behind her, and Nami instantly grit her teeth. As mad at him as she was, he wasn't who she had in mind. She turned to the offending voice and said irritably, "Not you, idiot. You're going to get lost."

"Actually, it'll be fine if I come along too, right?" Robin said from behind them. Nami hesitated, feeling a bit unsure about the arrangement for some reason, and asked, "Isn't that inefficient? Do we really need 2 people to take care of Luffy?"

"Ah, but this way I can take care of them both. It's like killing 2 birds with one stone, is it not?" Robin replied.

Nami mulled it over for a couple of seconds before realizing she really didn't have a reason to object to this. Dealing with Sanji for a couple of hours wasn't that bad, after all, so she didn't know what she was thinking.

"Sure," Nami said. "In fact, thank you for volunteering to watch them," she said in relief. Sometimes she felt responsible for the stupid members of her crew and wondered how she would stay sane if Robin hadn't joined.

"It should make it easier on you, too," Robin continued. "Don't worry, I'll take care of him..." she said, trailing as she walked away, leaving Nami to narrow her eyes at the singular pronoun.

Usopp and Chopper had already disappeared and Nami looked behind her for the only person left. Bright eyes asked her a question, and she graciously accepted the invitation she had been expecting from the beginning.

_._

_._

_—(trying to be nice is worthless sometimes)—_

_._

_._

And then Nami remembered why she had been hoping so badly for Sanji to be stuck watching Luffy this time. She doesn't really _hate_ his advances by any means, but as the cook twirled around with a pair of cotton candy sticks she didn't ask for, she had to slap him and tell him to stop wasting money. "I'm not hungry, Sanji-kun," she said impatiently, "you're overdoing it." Times like this Nami asked herself how Robin was able to put up with Sanji so politely.

"Hai, Nami-swaaaan," he replied ecstatically, too lost in happiness to realize her vexation.

For a second Nami considered just separating from him, but for all his faults, leaving him seemed too rude.

But in the end, it wasn't like she couldn't enjoy their time together at all. Nami was satisfied when they were able to stand on the edge of the lantern-lit dirt road, quietly observing the busy festival crowded with people of all ages. She eventually convinced herself to take a stick of cotton candy and realized after tasting it the appeal Chopper found in it.

"Nami-san, where do you want to go next?" Sanji asked when the crowd cleared up a bit and the road was free for them to walk on.

Nami sighed to herself, being content to walk around. But oh– "Hey, do you think there's anywhere here I can scam people for beri-" she started before a pair of burly, suspicious looking men crashed into her, causing her to drop her cotton candy. Startled, she grabbed her shoulder where they hit and fell to the ground. "Hey, you guys..." she growled, about to get up and have at them but it seemed like they were already running away in a rush. Before she could even say anything else Sanji had already fired up. "Excuse me Nami-san, I have some assholes to beat up! Don't think you can get away with hurting my precious angel!" he shouted and ran through the path the crowd made, being scared to death.

"...Bye?"

_._

_._

_—(I know I owe you explanations but I'm not the one you'll get them from)—_

_._

_._

Nami grumbled as she walked through the streets. Sanji hadn't told her to stay where she was, after all, and even if he did she probably wouldn't have listened. "After I put up with you this is how you repay me? Ah, I'd really like to find Robin... where is she at a time like this..." There were lots of food stalls on the road, and she was almost tempted to buy something to wash out the sugary taste of the cotton candy. But then she spotted a familiar long-nose a couple stands away from her stand up quickly and shake his fist angrily at the person running the stand.

"Usopp!" Nami called as he started walking away. He stopped and as she approached where he was, she saw that the stand he was at was for goldfish scooping.

Usopp looked depressed, she thought. And it made sense, considering how tricky these sorts of stands were.

"He didn't even give me a pity fish! He gave the people next to me a pity fish!" he complained.

"And exactly how old were the people next to you?"

"Uh... around 5? Or 6?"

Nami gave him an exasperated look and he gulped. "Ah, whatever. Here, I'll go win you a goldfish," she said, marching over to the stand.

"Thank you, Nami!" she heard from behind her.

"You owe me 3 times the admission fee!" she replied.

She waved her hand at the attendant and paid him the 100 beri it cost to play and received in return a flimsy looking paper net, to which she looked at skeptically. No wonder Usopp, who was usually so good at fishing, would fail at a simple festival game. Squeezing in between the people around the pool of water, she tested the scooper in the water gently. Seeing around her how easy it was to tear nets, Nami pulled hers out of the water and yelled to the attendant, "Excuse me, can I buy another scooper?"

5 minutes later she was grinning to herself. Already she had caught ten or so fish which were resting in a bag next to her. Using both scoopers to her advantage, it was easy to trap the fish and support the paper with double layers lifting them up. She was in the middle of an attempt to catch two fish at once when someone behind her said, "Excuse me Miss, don't you think you've caught enough fish already-"

Nami turned around abruptly hearing that and the person saw the two nets she was holding. "Ha! I knew she was cheating!"

The man running the stand ran over and snatched the scoopers out of her hand and she stammered, "Wait, wait, I'm just holding that one for my friend... aha... look, he's right there– Usopp where did you go?"

In fact, as soon as he saw the commotion he ran away as fast as possible, not eager to be associated with her. "Oh don't take my fish too! I worked hard on catching those!" she whined as they were poured out of the plastic bag for other people to catch.

"Out." The attendant pointed. "You're lucky I'm not asking for anything else."

She walked away with a nasty look on her face, muttering something about a cowardly sniper who asked for things and wouldn't return favors. "His loss anyway, it's not like I wanted the fish in the first place."

Nami looked up to see a flash of purple in the crowd, and sure it was Robin, she called out. With Robin should have come Zoro and Luffy, so she could check on them too. For a second the person turned, and Nami saw Robin's eyes meet hers. But people passed between them and Robin seemed to have snuck away before Nami could reach her. If she didn't know any better, Nami would have thought Robin was avoiding her. "What _is it_ with everyone and running away from me?"

_._

_._

_—(getting stronger takes time, and until that happens I'll still be there)—_

_._

_._

Wandering around alone was starting to get boring. Nami had stopped by a takoyaki stand out of hunger but really, it was no fun if there were no rubber hands to block from stealing her food. Speaking of which, she really hadn't seen Luffy all night. That could only mean two things: he was being surprisingly manageable, which was extremely unlikely, or he'd blown up half the town and the news was just seconds away from reaching her. With a sigh, Nami walked off to the outskirts of the festival area, slightly exhausted after what she'd been through. Counting off on her fingers, she'd met 3 of her crew members (who subsequently ditched her) and hadn't seen the other 3 yet. What were the chances of that? The town wasn't really that big. She thought it might be possible that they returned to the ship... but Robin had suggested for them to stay in town for the night. Anyway, there was no way Luffy or Chopper would want to leave early, and she found it very unlikely Zoro would walk all the way back there just to take a nap.

On the subject of naps...

Nami groaned as she saw Luffy and his enlarged stomach sleeping at the base of a tree, sticks of meat next to him. "What an idiot..." She was about to walk over and kick him awake seeing as he would be incredibly angry if he found out that he slept through the rest of the festival, but then she saw some faces that reminded her of a whole different sort of anger.

"Oh it's those assholes," Nami said, almost wanting to storm over to confront the punks who had knocked her over when she was with Sanji. They looked rather beaten up already, though; Sanji had probably already found them. Plus, she tried to avoid fights as much as possible. And when she looked closer, she saw that there were actually three of them now. But before she could sneak away, one of them shouted and pointed at Luffy, saying, "That's him! That's the guy who stole our money!"

Suddenly it all came back to her: she hadn't given Luffy all that much money. After all, Luffy was always hungry, and he was always spending too much on food. But for some reason it hadn't occurred to her that the fact that he was broke wasn't going to stop him from eating. In fact, it was just going to get him (and therefore her) in even more trouble. Worse, she had the misfortune of already being halfway across the grass to Luffy, and in the line of sight of those guys.

"Hey girl, you with that damn strawhat over there? He owes us money. Pay us back."

"Excuse me, _you're_ the one that knocked me over in the middle of the road earlier! If anything, you owe me an apology!" she shot back. As soon as she said that she realized what a mistake it was.

"So you're with that asshole who tried to pick a fight with us before too?" one of the gangsters said, rolling up his sleeve. "Now we've got double the reason to beat this kid up!"

"So they met Sanji-kun again..." Cursing herself for looking weak, Nami looked around and frantically ran to Luffy, shaking his shoulders in an attempt to wake him up. It was no use though, he was sound asleep. "No doubt dreaming about food, too," she muttered. "In what world is food more important than my life?"

In that time the gang got closer to her and she reached for her Clima-Tact. "And I almost didn't bring this, too..." At once they charged at her and she was forced to defend both herself and Luffy.

"Thunderbolt tempo!" she yelled, dodging quick enough to watch the lightning strike the men attempting to attack her. Nami quickly ran behind the tree to catch her breath. Panting, she realized they weren't down for the count and if she didn't do something quick she'd lose the fight.

"You can't hide forever," she heard one of them say, and grimaced.

"That's cliché as hell. Hiding is what I do best," she replied, preparing to strike again. "Luffy, wake up!" she added as an afterthought.

Fists flew at her as she ran from the not-so-effective shelter of the tree, and using her Clima-Tact as a defense, she could feel herself running out of strength.

Nami wasn't getting creamed but she could tell that if the fight went on any longer without her turning the tables, she was going to lose. "And I was really looking forward to not fighting today, too..." she whispered to herself.

"This is pathetic," she said, louder and stronger, directing her voice to her enemy. "Losing to a bunch of punks when I've taken out real enemies before? I just wasn't prepared."

There was real anger in the leader's eyes when she said that, and any chance she had of escaping was gone. At this point though, Nami was tired and grinning, she figured even if she couldn't win, she could at least get in some last words.

He swung in to punch her and instinctively she let out a high pitched shriek.

_._

_._

_._

And then through the darkness were slashes, and silver swords, and as the sound of clashing metal filled her ears she slid down to the ground and felt a massive wave of relief.

"There's only one witch I know who screams like that."

_._

_._

_—(it's about time)—_

_._

_._

She felt like she should have been grateful but after the first few moments it became too hard to express. Out of stubbornness she took to staring at the scene in front of her; three bloody men who were surely almost dead if not already, Chopper tending to them out of pity, and a swordsman she couldn't even look in the eye.

"Why the hell were you fighting?" Zoro asked, wiping sweat off his forehead with eyes still closed.

"It was Luffy's fault!" she hissed angrily. There was silence between them, and Chopper didn't dare to say a word either.

"And you had your Clima-Tact with you, too," he said, frowning. The unspoken word he couldn't bring himself to say formed on his lips: hypocrite.

"It was a last minute decision," she muttered.

It was the katanas that she couldn't avoid. She struggled to look away but it was obvious Zoro knew she wouldn't be able to admit she was wrong.

After a moment, Zoro sighed and said, "I didn't think I was actually going to need them." Nami averted her eyes from his face.

She felt like it would have been easier had he just straight up yelled at her, because this way felt like pity, and she hated that.

"I didn't need saving," her pride said, and Zoro just shook his head. She knew she did, she knew she should be thankful... but she was still mad at Zoro, for being right.

He reached his hand to her face, and she turned her head slowly to face him.

Finally their eyes met and locked for the first time. In his eyes Nami saw too many emotions she couldn't place. Anger? Hatred? Annoyance? Serious concern? It was as if he was considering things, thinking about her, and she couldn't move. For all the times he ran through her head, it had just occurred to her that it would be the same for him. And the thought kind of scared her. It wasn't like her to care so much about what other people thought of her but suddenly the chance that Zoro thought she was a burden seemed so awful her throat dried up and she knew what he could see in her eyes would be fear.

It felt like hours, just standing there, staring at him, without the words to speak or break the silence. But it was only seconds before his hand reached her face and wiped away dirt from her cheek.

"Chopper, there are some scratches on her face. You might want to tend to them before she fines us 10 million beri for not taking care of her."

He turned and Nami was left watching after him choked up and feeling like she was about to cry.

"No, no, no," she whispered to herself. This wasn't happening, she wasn't getting emotional over a stupid swordsman who did nothing but give her trouble, and-

And she was doing it again, thinking about him the way she feared he thought of her. And this time the memories rushed through her mind, of countless times he saved her life, of every moment he was concerned for her even without expressing it in words, and every second he walked away without her saying thanks.

Losing control of herself she ran forward and grabbed his shoulder, and before he could even turn around and face her she was already yelling, "Thank you, thank you, thank you so much, I'm, I'm so sorry, thank you for everything," and she was blubbering and incoherent, but it was beyond her to care at that point, all that mattered was showing him how grateful she was for all the things he'd done for her.

Fireworks shot up into the sky, and the colors lit up the night as tears fell from her eyes; she held on to him as tightly as possible and all she was thinking was how it had taken her so long to realize how right it felt.

Zoro watched the bursts of lights in front of her thinking finally, finally, _finally_.

_._

_._

_—(you don't know the meaning of quitting while you're ahead)—_

_._

_._

"Nami, your yukata is torn, here at the shoulder," Chopper commented, sitting on Zoro's shoulder.

15 minutes later they were walking into the heart of the festival, Luffy left behind — "He'll be alright," Zoro had said, upon kicking him to no avail — with no particular aim but enjoying the time. After the fireworks had ended they had stood there for a couple more moments before Chopper asked quietly if they could go buy some more cotton candy. It was like the spell broke, and Zoro turned around, grinned, and told him yes.

Nami watched his face as they walked with a sense of relief, feeling like everything went back to normal and yet at the same time everything had changed. She still hit him when he went in the opposite direction of the cotton candy stall, but the real walls had broken down and she felt so much more free now that she expressed for herself how thankful she was for him.

"Is it really?" she asked, turning her head to look at her shoulder. "Ugh, it is. This was really expensive too, those punks really owe way too much to me."

She glanced sideways at Zoro, who didn't show any intention of commenting, and fought the urge to ask him what he thought of her yukata. There was no way he'd give her a straight answer even if he actually thought it looked nice, though, and she didn't feel daring enough to ask.

Zoro eyed her as she was lost in thought and said, "Your hair is messy. And it has some leaves in it."

"So much for dishonesty," she scowled to herself as he walked ahead, fixing her hair anyway.

The center square was packed with people, and Nami was lightly shoved around a couple of times. "Zoro, don't you think we should wait for Nami?" Chopper asked worriedly. Looking behind them Nami wasn't visible anymore, and with an agitated sigh Zoro turned back to search for her.

"Where did you guys go," Nami muttered, navigating through the crowd and still not seeing either of them. There was a fountain in the middle of the square and she aimed to wait around there until the crowd cleared up but by the looks of it that would take a long time. Pushed by the mass of people she accidentally stepped on more than a few feet.

"Sorry," she said sheepishly, receiving understanding looks in return. Suddenly her hand was clasped in someone else's and she was pulled violently, causing those same people to frown at her.

"What is with you?" she hissed, turning around to see Zoro's dispassionate face.

"You're the one that got left behind," he said simply. "You're lucky Chopper wanted to come back for you."

Nami couldn't believe how irritating he could be and yanked her hand out of his with a _hmph_, marching ahead to find a food stand. Despite already having eaten a couple times she needed something to get her mind off of him.

Zoro looked down at his hand and sighed, shaking his head as he and Chopper set off to follow her.

_._

_._

_—(the advantages of being reserved)—_

_._

_._

After haggling prices — "that's just a ridiculous amount of money for a young girl like me to spend!" — Nami took a bite of the candy apple she bought. "Mm," she said as she chewed, "It's really sweet." In her other hand she held a bag containing a couple masks she thought were cute that she bought along with it. Humming, she walked along the road happily until she ran straight into a certain very irritated swordsman.

He looked at her like he was expecting an answer but all there was was silence.

"Why do you keep running away from us?" he finally asked.

"Hey," she replied frustratedly, "everyone else I met always left me first. Why am I the only one that gets reprimanded?"

"Are you determined to walk around all alone? If you don't want us around just say so," Zoro said, turning away, "I'm tired of chasing after you."

It made her so angry, how much his words impacted her. It wasn't fair how she was always the one in the wrong, who always had to give in and say sorry. But there is no time for pride when a relationship is on the line.

Reaching out her hand reluctantly Nami dropped her bag and moved until it slipped right next to his.

"You don't... object to this, do you," she muttered looking down, face burning and hating herself for every word she said.

Zoro watched her face, and laughing to himself, picked up her bag with his spare hand. All he said was "Let's go. We don't need you to get lost again."

"Zoro, you idiot!" Chopper screamed into his ear, and Nami would have hit him too had she not been blushing uncontrollably from the warmth of his hand next to hers.

"It's okay, I still have time to humiliate you later," she whispered.

Through the crowd a certain archaeologist's eye twinkled as she walked away.

_._

_._

_—(the things you do for the people you care about)—_

_._

_._

"So how did you end up separating from Robin and Luffy?" Nami asked when she finally came to her senses again. She still had that tingly, breathless feeling from the close proximity but she felt in control of herself and keeping silent wouldn't let her stay that way. The trio was aimlessly wandering through the festival again and Nami was a little tired but she wasn't exactly sure what to say. _I'm tired? Done for the day? Let's go find somewhere to sleep together wait no that's not what I meant–_

"We were only together for like, 5 minutes," Zoro replied, lifting an eyebrow at Nami's flustered face as she slapped herself on the head. "After finding Luffy we looked away for a split second and he was gone again. And that woman disappeared soon after, and like hell I was going to hunt either of them down. So I looked for some sake."

"I found him 20 minutes from the nearest bar," Chopper piped up. "He was heading into the forest."

"Hey! Don't say that like it was my fault," Zoro grumbled indignantly. "The people who built this town just did it wrong."

"You do realize how stupid that sounds," Nami said, exasperated. Still, she couldn't help but laugh. Her crew was filled with absolute idiots, but she loved them all.

It was getting late and the masses of people were starting to leave. Clearly wherever they were going for the night was in the opposite direction of the one that Nami, Zoro and Chopper were traveling in though, because Nami was shoved by more than a couple people squeezing between the stalls. "Ow!" she exclaimed, wincing in pain as someone's foot stamped down on hers.

"You okay?" Zoro asked, rather evenly in her opinion considering the situation.

_No, I'm not,_ she wanted to say irritably, but then a better idea popped into her head.

"Zoro, carry me," she commanded, motioning for him to crouch down so she could get on his back.

Zoro gave her a look of disgust and looking between them Chopper hopped down to the ground and asked, "Nami, do you want me to look at that first? It must be bad if you're asking Zoro to carry you..."

"No, don't worry about it Chopper," Zoro said with a grunt, but complying with her demand, "she's just a dirty liar."

Nami couldn't contest that, considering if she wanted she was perfectly capable of walking by herself, but as she climbed on his back she couldn't help but think he didn't have an issue with it either.

Closing her eyes and resting her head on his shoulder, she fell asleep to the sound of his breathing.

_._

_._

_—(thinking of you.)—_

_._

_._

"Where the hell are we?" Nami asked drowsily as she sat up from where she had been sleeping. The sky was still dark, although it was lit with shining white stars. Running her hand on the ground she felt grass and dirt, and opening her eyes wider, she saw the faint outlines of so many trees she couldn't even count. "Are we... in the forest?"

Next to her Zoro was fast asleep, leaning against the wide trunk of a tree, and Chopper was resting in his lap. "How cute," Nami said, giggling softly. She could just imagine Chopper responding with "Telling us we're cute doesn't make me happy, bastard!"

Crawling to the other side of the tree, Nami intended to fall back asleep there but the view was breathtaking. Apparently Zoro and Chopper had managed to lead her to a hill that overlooked the entire town, and although she wanted to slap them for getting so far away seeing all the pretty lights and scenery convinced her that idiocy could be forgiven.

She folded up her knees to her chest and wrapping her hands around her legs, Nami looked out at the stars and sat there thinking.

When she drifted off again she had already moved away from the precarious edge to somewhere, that subconsciously, just felt safer.

_._

_._

_._

In the middle of the night, Zoro woke up and still groggy, he turned his head to see a certain navigator sleeping on his shoulder.

_._

_._

_—(it's prettier with you)—_

_._

_._

"Oh, sorry Nami! Are you okay?"

"Ahhh," Nami said, stretching her arms above her. She had a good sleep, she thought. Really comfortable.

"Nami, Nami..." Chopper's voice startled her into paying attention. He was lying face down, plants scattered all around him.

"What's this?" Nami asked, lifting one of them up so she could see better. The sky was getting lighter but the sun hadn't risen yet. It had a strange smell, and she quickly dropped it.

Chopper crawled back up into a sitting position with a disappointed face. "I was collecting plants while trying to find the path back to the town, and somehow I went in a circle and came back, tripping over you by accident. Your legs are stretched out, you see..."

"Oh, sorry about that," Nami said apologetically. "Here, I'll help you pick them up."

Turning to her right to pick up stray leaves she bumped into Zoro, looking up to see his eyes opening. "It's about time," she said with an eyeroll but he pointed at the sky behind her murmuring, "it's the sunrise."

Nami and Chopper turned around and instantly all thoughts of the plants were forgotten.

As faded blues and yellows filled the sky in streaks of light Nami stepped closer to the edge in order to see better. The birds chirped softly and the morning air was moderately chilling but refreshing. Nami was breathtaken at the sight, and Zoro and Chopper stood beside her as they watched the sky in awe.

_._

_._

_—(she doesn't dare hold his hand.)—_

_._

_._

"This isn't going to work," Nami decided, after Zoro strayed from the path for the fifth time. She finally managed to find the direction to walk in order to return to the town, only for the idiot she was walking with to keep getting lost. But what was she supposed to expect? He's hopeless.

"Zoro, all you have to do is follow Nami. How hard can that be? Just keep your eyes on her all the time," Chopper instructed patiently.

"We really do need a preventive measure to make sure Zoro doesn't get lost, but... um, you don't have to say it like that, Chopper." Awkwardly Nami turned to keep walking but was quickly interrupted by an irate "Zoro!"

"I think Nami's going in the wrong direction," Zoro insisted while looking in the direction they just came from, with a completely straight face.

"She's the navigator! How in the world do you trust your own judgment over hers?!"

"This is the last straw," Nami muttered. Whipping around, she gripped Zoro's sleeve to his surprise and started walking. When he didn't move she hissed, "Do I need to drag you to get you to follow me? This is the only way you'll get back to the town, you moron. Let's go."

Zoro looked down at Chopper briefly for confirmation, who admitted, "Yeah, Zoro, just go with it."

Begrudgingly Zoro followed, and Nami walked wearing a grin of triumph. "See? It's not that bad."

"It could be worse," he conceded.

_._

_._

_–(it's easier to keep up an appearance about your relationship with someone than to admit the truth behind it)–_

_._

_._

The trees seemed to extend on forever, and tired of seeing the exact same thing wherever she looked, Nami asked, "So how long exactly did you walk to get to the cliff last night?"

"Hell if I know," Zoro grumbled, and Nami shot him a sharp glare.

"Hmm, probably about an hour," Chopper guessed, ignoring Zoro's scowl. "Zoro said it would be better to sleep in the forest than to pay for an actual place to stay in. He said you would appreciate it."

Nami raised an eyebrow at that, and with a sigh Zoro said, "I didn't actually have any money after drinking sake and buying Chopper food, and did you really want us to look for where you keep yours?"

"Point taken," she acknowledged. "But did you really have to take us this far away from the town? My feet are killing me. I'm thinking if this keeps up you might have to carry me again–"

"No," Zoro said adamantly, "Flat-out no. Once was enough."

"Okay, okay," Nami teased airily. "But you owe me for this. I'm thinking a hundred thousand beri addition to your debt?"

"Whatever," Zoro replied, rolling his eyes. Neither of them was keeping track of the amount anyway.

After what seemed like ages they finally emerged from the woods and Nami led them through the outskirts of the town. "Are we back at the ship yet?" Chopper asked with a yawn. "We've been walking for a long time already."

"Yeah well, that was only the beginning, Chopper. Remember that long-ass walk we took from the ship to the town?"

Upon seeing his downcast face Nami smiled sympathetically and said, "It's okay Chopper, if you need someone to blame, blame Zoro for taking us so far into the forest." To the dirty look Zoro gave her after that she responded with a saccharine grin. "It really is your fault though," Nami pointed out with a shrug.

"You know, I'm sick of talking about me," Zoro said abruptly, and Nami laughed. "Did you see what everyone else was doing at the festival? I didn't see the shit cook or Usopp the whole time."

"I think Usopp told me he was going to go try to win some of the games on the way there," Chopper mused. "And I might have glimpsed Sanji talking to some girls."

"Why am I not surprised," Zoro said.

"Actually, I was with both of them," Nami commented. Both of them turned to look at her. "Usopp was trying but failing to catch goldfish and Sanji bought me some cotton candy I didn't want."

To this Chopper let out a cry. "Nami, how could you not want cotton candy?"

"Sorry Chopper, I wasn't hungry at the time," Nami apologized. "Anyway, Sanji was trying to be really nice to me, until he left me to go chase after, um, those guys who I was fighting with yesterday... They kind of knocked me over and he got a little angry, um."

"So it was your fault after all," Zoro said with narrowed eyes.

"No, it wasn't!" Nami protested. "Well, it was kind of, but only a little. Luffy stole money from those guys, that's why they were mad at him. I was just a side thing."

"Whatever you say," Zoro replied, completely disbelievingly.

"Anyway Nami, why do you seem so unhappy with Sanji being nice to you? I'd love it if Sanji treated us half as well as he treats you," Chopper asked wistfully.

"I have nothing against being treated like a queen," Nami huffed. "But it's not queen treatment if every other girl gets the same thing. You get sick of it sometimes, you know?"

"No, I don't know," Zoro deadpanned, and Nami gave him a complimentary punch to the head.

_._

_._

_—(only time will tell.)—_

_._

_._

5 pointless conversations later Nami plugged her ears and shouted, "When can I be done listening to you two ramble on and on? I'm sick of it! I'm so tired of this and I just want to go back and–"

"Good news for you, princess," Zoro interjected, pulling her sleeve, "Look straight ahead." They were approaching the end of the path and due to reach the ocean again. The Merry entered their sight and Nami let out a relieved sigh. Grabbing Zoro's yukata again as a precaution she charged forward, determined to head back before she collapsed of exhaustion.

"Finally, we're back," Chopper said excitedly with a new spring in his step. "I'm really hungry! I hope Sanji cooked breakfast already!"

"I hate admitting it, but I wouldn't mind eating some food right about now," Zoro added.

The reminder of their hunger caused all of them to walk a little faster in anticipation.

"It's been an exhausting night," Nami said to herself. "I need some mikans."

"Not just for you," Zoro said under his breath, and Nami covered her mouth, not intending for him to hear that.

"The festival was so fun! I'd love to do this again!" Chopper exclaimed.

Zoro rubbed his shoulder tiredly. "Not any time soon, I hope. I've had enough excitement for a while. All I want to do is drink sake and nap."

"Just two minutes ago you were saying how hungry you were!" Chopper frowned.

"Well, sake does the job too."

Nami stayed silent, busy thinking about everything that had happened. For Zoro and Chopper what must have just been something interesting to spice up their journey affected her more than what she'd like to admit, particularly in the way she thought of a certain person. But well, there was still a long time left for her to figure out how she felt. No rush, no stress, no worry; just enjoy life as it comes.

"Ooh, look! Robin is waving to us!" Chopper yelled. "Hi Robinnnnn!"

Looking up to the ship which was almost close enough to get on, Nami saw Robin smiling at them and waved back.

"Nami," Zoro said with a cough.

"What?" she asked unknowingly. Looking down she realized she was still holding onto his sleeve. "Oh. Right." Quickly she let go, flushing slightly. Out of the corner of her eye she would swear she saw Robin laugh.

"It was a nice night though, overall," Zoro said, before running onto the dock and jumping on the ship.

Nami couldn't help but stare for a couple seconds before shaking her head and following with Chopper.

Upon landing on the deck she looked around to see everyone else had already arrived. Sanji in particular looked incredibly happy that she was back. "Nami-swaaaan! I-"

"Welcome back! What took you guys so long?" Luffy interrupted. "I've been waiting for breakfast for 2 hours, and Sanji wouldn't let me eat until you got here!"

"I definitely blame Zoro," she muttered, as Sanji told their captain off for prioritizing food over Nami's return. She dropped her bag and turning to her right she saw he had already fallen asleep by the side of the ship. Despite herself she smiled. Some things just don't change and it's the most annoying habits that can end up being the most endearing.

And anyway, who knows what the future holds? She just might be able to change them. But until then she'll take it day by day. And hopefully one of those days she'll finally discover what exactly he means to her.

That's a day she'll look forward to with all her heart.

—end.

* * *

A/N: I like to think that behind the facade of sorts that zn hide behind subconsciously, their bickering and such, they really do care for each other, aside from the nakama thing that everyone has by default. To what extent I don't really know, it might not necessarily be romantic. That's still left to discover I guess~

I think that Zoro would have realized first, despite how annoying she is, hehe, they have a particular ~bond, but being reserved and all, he'd never dare say anything about it, so he just continues life as normal

I like serious!Zoro, knowing that Zoro hides his feelings, it opens up so many more options. At the same time it makes it harder to write him lol

Nami would be oblivious, thinking of him as an annoyance and when something ~emotional happens she'd think the revealed bond was nakamaship like how she has for everyone

After what happened in this fic I think Nami would feel more comfortable showing weakness, as they've deepened their trust in each other and such

Post timeskip they'd be more in control of their feelings, or at least Nami would, she'd kiss him playfully on the cheek with a grin — "this is the idiot who holds my affections" — and he'd still be slightly flustered

Ahh I could go on about my zona headcanons forever. I kinda already have oops :X The way I see zona is a little different from how most people see it, I guess. But that doesn't detract from how much I love this ship and the fanworks for it, haha.

Also... isn't Zoro/Nami/Chopper family so cute? Ahaha I think they're adorable

Anyway, thank you for reading! I'd love to hear what you think!


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